I'm Sorry, My Princess
by AngelQueen
Summary: Why didn't Imhotep appear to recognize Evie as Princess Nefertiri? Perhaps he did so.


**Disclaimer**: I do not own 'The Mummy' or 'The Mummy Returns.' I do not own Ardeth, Evie, Imhotep, and, sadly, Rick. I'm just borrowing the characters. No infringement intended.  
**Summary**: Why didn't Imhotep recognize Evie as Princess Nefertiri in 'The Mummy?' Surely he would have done so at some point. Thoughts from everyone's favorite mummy during the bedroom scene in 'The Mummy' and at the very end of 'The Mummy Returns.'

* * *

When I first saw you, I thought that you were Anck-su-namun. The resemblance between you had fooled many in Pharaoh's court, those who had not known either of you well. You might have found it insulting, given your history with Anck-su-namun, but after being imprisoned for three thousand years, I suppose I was disoriented.

I called you by my beloved's name, but you did not reply, only standing there and staring at me, terrified. It was in those moments of silence that I examined you more closely and saw the truth. You were not Anck-su-namun, but Nefertiri, Pharaoh's favorite daughter, my friend from times long since gone to dust. You suspected that I loved Anck-su-namun, but never spoke of it to me.

My repayment to you for your silence was to kill your father while you watched from a small distance away, helpless to do anything but scream. I dishonored you greatly that night in the name of love, but that is little excuse to you who grieved.

As my priests pulled me from Pharaoh's chamber, leaving my beloved behind, I saw you surrounded by your Medjai protectors and your handmaidens. Your women were crying, and I do believe I saw a hint of tears on your cheeks, but you appeared composed. Until our eyes met, that is. Your dark eyes, which had always held such affection and kindness towards me, widened in surprise, only to then narrow in hatred. I had made you into a person you had hoped to never be: the regent of Egypt, the holder of the throne until your brother returned from war, the daughter of a murdered Pharaoh.

Enraged, you shouted for the Medjai to kill me, but my priests were clever. We knew the palace better than anyone, and thus escaped.

Anck-su-namun was dead, my actions had destroyed my perhaps most greatly-treasured friendship, and I was now the most hunted man in all of Egypt. There seemed to be nothing left to lose, so Hamunaptra became my new destination. My priests found me a pretty little slave to use as a sacrifice, and I came within a hair's breadth of returning Anck-su-namun to the world. Only the arrival of the Medjai stopped me. Still, what came next horrified me, and even them if I recall rightly. The Hom-Dai, my Princess? Surely you did not order that, you would not have been so cruel to curse the Medjai with that responsibility.

Three thousand years of agony I suffered, feeling the bite of the scarabs long after they had died of starvation. I did not enter the Underworld, nay, I was denied that comfort. I hovered in between the two worlds, as the curse bade all those who were placed under its purview. I suffered, called out desperately for Anck-su-namun, pleaded desperately with the gods to allow me to see her again, but to no avail. The gods had abandoned me, their false priest, and the breaker of the sacred oaths.

Still, when I awakened, it was not to Anck-su-namun's face, but to another familiar voice ringing in my ears. I was not certain it was you, the princess of old, as the voice had very different inflections, and its accent was atrocious. I shook such thoughts from my mind, and turned to my immediate attention to finish what I started. Anck-su-namun would be brought back, and I would destroy any Medjai who remained in this world.

In the city my new servant called Cairo, I thanked you for setting me free. Later when I found you locked in a bedroom like a common criminal, I knew that the gods had been cruel to you as well. They had deposited your soul into this new world and abandoned you to be ordered about by others. You were a princess of Egypt, the daughter of a god-on-earth. You did not belong here.

I would do you a final service, hoping that somehow, it might make up for what I had done to you so long ago. I would set you free to return to the Underworld, where all those you loved awaited you. By the same stroke, of course, I would also return Anck-su-namun. We both would profit.

* * *

Eight years later

* * *

The pyramid crumbled around my ears, the raging souls of the Underworld clawed at my legs, but I took no notice. I could only watch as the love of two lifetimes fled from me, and I cursed the fools who had brought me an impure mind and body to resurrect Anck-su-namun in. Tears pricked my eyes, the first I had wanted to shed in millennia, as she ran from me to save her own life. Anck-su-namun had abandoned me.

I could not comprehend or accept it, and I turned. There you were, your Highness, staring at me with those same dark eyes I had once known so well. You had freed your husband from the grip of the Underworld's denizens. Troublesome creature though he was, I could not help but feel some respect for him. He had turned down a chance to rule the entire world, had banished the army of Anubis. Perhaps more importantly, he had won your heart, which could not have been an easy task.

I saw him stare back at me, his gaze filled with anger and loathing, and I could not blame him for that. I had done your family great harm, nothing could make up for that. Still, my eyes were drawn back to you. Your eyes were different. I saw sympathy, I saw understanding.

I saw recognition. You remembered me, perhaps even from before that heinous night.

I could not help but offer you a faint smile. You have grown, your Highness. You have moved beyond the furious princess who demanded my head. Your love had made you far greater, eased your temper.

All of these thoughts flew through my mind in a matter of moments. The past and present mingled and I regretted so much. Anck-su-namun and I could have done so many things differently. Who is to say Pharaoh might not have released his claim on Anck-su-namun? Would you have helped us if we had only asked you? So many possibilities unexplored…

There was no way to change the past. What is done, cannot be undone.

I loosened my grip on the broken floor and let the hordes of the Underworld claim me at last. My last thoughts, however, were not with Anck-su-namun. They were with you. I am sorry, my princess. I am so, so sorry. If I could change the course of our lives, I would.

Farewell Nefertiri.

* * *

**Note**: I wrote this story years ago and after looking at again, I saw that it could be so much better than it was. So I went through it, editing and even rewriting parts of it. I look at it now and find it so much better and clearer than it was. Thoughts?


End file.
